Mystic River (2003)

October 15, 2003, release date

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Screenplay by Brian Helgeland

Based on the novel Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

Music by Clint Eastwood

Edited by Joel Cox

Cinematography by Tom Stern

Sean Penn as James “Jimmy” Markum

Jason Kelly as young Jimmy Markum

Tim Robbins as Dave Boyle

Cameron Bowen as young Dave Boyle

Kevin Bacon as Detective Sean Devine

Connor Paolo as young Sean Devine

Laurence Fishburne as Detective Sergeant Whitey Powers

Marcia Gay Harden as Celeste Boyle

Laura Linney as Annabeth Markum

Tom Guiry as Brendan Harris

Spencer Treat Clark as Ray Jr. “Silent Ray” Harris

Andrew Mackin as John O’Shea

Emmy Rossum as Katie Markum

Kevin Chapman as Val Savage

Adam Nelson as Nick Savage

Robert Wahlberg as Kevin Savage

Cayden Boyd as Michael Boyle

Tori Davis as Lauren Devine

Produced by Village Roadshow Pictures, Malpaso Productions, NPB Entertainment

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Fate plays a large role in Mystic River, which is a moving story of three men, Dave Boyle, Jimmy Markum, and Sean Devine, who were childhood friends and still live in the same Boston neighborhood. For me, the story is mostly Dave Boyle’s, and fate hangs particularly heavily over him. It affects other characters, too: For example, fate brings two men, two strangers, to the boys’ street at the beginning of the film, when the main characters were still children. In the present, fate brings Katie Markum, Jimmy’s daughter, to the street where two boys are “playing” with a gun.

Mystic River opens with a flashback, back to the day that young Dave Boyle was kidnapped. The colors are muted, and the lighting is soft. I kept thinking that the director, Clint Eastwood, managed to shoot all the opening scenes on cloudy days. The softness of the lighting could be interpreted as a way to distort and to create doubt because memory, fear, and guilt are involved in the boys’ childhood story. Certainly Dave’s story is filtered through his grief and pain.

(This blog post about Mystic River contains spoilers.)

Dave Boyle is the most complicated character and the one that the other characters in the film have the most trouble with. He was the victim of terrible crimes (kidnapping and sexual assault) when he was young, and everyone in the neighborhood seems to blame him (the victim)—and to continue to blame him. His situation stands in stark contrast with Katie Markum. Both are victims of crimes, but the other characters feel sympathy and sorrow for Katie. Dave is still alive, and he is a constant reminder to everyone of something they don’t know how to deal with and don’t want to think about. Katie Markum has been murdered and is automatically assumed to be a blameless victim. The state police detectives, including Sean Devine (one of the three childhood friends), investigating her death have great sympathy for her and her family:

• State police officer (Tom): “We found the registration in the glove box. The owner is Katherine Markum.”

• Sean Devine: “Oh, sh--.”

• Whitey Powers, Sean’s partner: “You know her?”

• Sean: “Maybe. Might be the daughter of a guy I know.”

• Tom: “We found a wallet and a license in a backpack on the floor. She’s nineteen.”

• Sean: “Oh, f--k, that’s her.”

• Whitey: “Is it a problem? You close with the guy?”

• Sean: “When we were kids. Now it’s just ‘hello’ around the neighborhood.”

• Whitey: “Nineteen. F--k. He’s in for a world of hurt.”

Dave, on the other hand, seems to know that no one wanted to hear what happened to him and that no one knew how to help him. He and his wife Celeste talk about Katie Markum’s murder and the fact that Sean Devine asked Celeste about Dave’s whereabouts the night that Katie was killed. This is the night that Dave begins to open up about his past:

• Dave: “Henry.”

• Celeste: “What? Henry?”

• Dave: “Henry and George. I never told anyone that before. Those were their names. Isn’t that f--king hilarious? At least that’s what they called themselves, but they were wolves, and Dave was the boy who escaped from wolves.”

• Celeste: “What are you talking about, Dave?”

• Dave: “I’m talking Henry and George. They took me on a four-day ride. They buried me in this ratty old cellar with a sleeping bag. And, man, Celeste, did they have their fun. And no one came to help old Dave then. Dave had to pretend to be somebody else.”

• Celeste: “You mean all those years ago when you were a little boy? Dave—”

• Dave: [pushes Celeste’s hand away from him] “Dave’s dead. I don’t know who came out of that cellar, but it sure as sh-- wasn’t Dave! . . .”

The result of the conversation is that Celeste is now frightened of her husband. She doesn’t realize or understand how much he is suffering in the present from traumatic events in the past.

Dave Boyle’s loneliness is unique because of his childhood experiences, but he is close to his son. He also protects a stranger from a pedophile behind McGill’s bar. Dave’s actions are misunderstood because he has trouble explaining what happened, and his actions eventually bring him down. His friends and neighbors are willing to jump to conclusions about him because he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They find it hard to trust him. Celeste Boyle doesn’t know where to turn when she starts worrying about her husband’s state of mind. She makes a poor choice in the film, but it’s not out of good or evil intentions.

Jimmy Markum, one of the most menacing characters in Mystic River, always acts on his assumptions, before he has actual proof. He may love his daughter and his family, but he runs the neighborhood with the help of the Savage brothers. They do Jimmy Markum’s bidding and his dirty work, which involves murder if Markum deems it necessary. His wife, Annabeth Markum, could be considered a femme fatale. She gives a chilling speech to her husband after they learn the truth about Katie’s murder and they are alone together. Viewers don’t learn what Annabeth is capable of until the final scenes of the film, but she is propping up her husband all the same while knowing full well what he is capable of and what he has done.

Dave Boyle isn’t the only character to be jarred by fate, and he isn’t the only one to suffer from loneliness. In spite of his bravado and his violence, Jimmy Markum is alone in his grief about his daughter Katie. He had felt so close to her, but he learns during the murder investigation, to his surprise, that he didn’t know her very well. He discovers details about her life and her plans only because she was murdered.

Sean Devine and his partner Whitey Powers may have solved Katie Markum’s murder, but only a few of the main characters are happy by the end of the film. And many of them are still alone, with more secrets to keep. Mystic River ends with one mystery solved and another left hanging, but it never wavers from telling the characters’ stories truthfully.